Bear Hug Grips on the new Mountain Guns

[mag318]

I have 2 of the new Mountain Guns a 617 and a 696 and ended up taking the Bear Hug grips off both of them. The top of the left panel was sharp and I could feel it on the joint of my thumb on both my Mountain Guns. A friend bought a 629 MG and the grip panel on his was fitted better and not sharp. I ended up putting a set of Hogue Bantams on the 617 and a set of VZ G10 on the 696. At least with these S&W we have an endless supply of aftermarket grips. Initially the Bear Hugs look and feel good plus they are not cheap grips. I think S&W & Lipseys would have been wise to just put their rubber grips on the new MGs and let the end user decide his preference.

 

[The Norseman]

S&W can do better! The wood grips on my
new June 30, 2025 S&W 686 MG 357mag
are a novelty to me.

I have mixed feelings about them. Shooting
with them this weekend was ok. They fit my
hand well, all makes for a trim package.

All my other S&W revolvers have the original
S&W Synthetic Rubber grips. I really enjoy
shooting those grips because of the finger
grooves, I gain a better hand grip purchase,
they are not slippery, manage recoil very well
and work well in the summer and winter.

Some how S&W got con'd into the Wood grip
thing, then made a big deal about it. Only a few
Mountain Guns came with (Cabela's had MGs
with wood).

All the original MGs I have seen had Rubber
grips like my other MGs have. I will replace
my wood wood grips eventually with the
Houge overmolded synthetic rubber ones.

S&W should have went with the original
synthetic rubber ones. I think it was a bad
marketing decision doing wood.

The best to you and your endeavors.

P.S. mine were over tighten and cracked
on the inside left panel, idiots.

 

[mag318]

Lipseys has close ties to Tyler GunWorks hence they specified their Bear Hug grips for the Mountain Guns and I'm sure plenty of buyers love them. I hear the next Mountains Guns will be in 45 Colt and 327 Magnum which will be interesting.

 

[Rock185]

My old 686 Mountain Gun had the rubber grips. The wood grips on the new MGs feel fine to me, but the skin at the base of my thumb takes a beating when shooting factory 158 and 180 grain .357 ammo; think bloodshed. I have now gone to the Hogue Tamer grips on the new MG; no more bloodshed.

The rubber grips on the 686-5 Mountain Gun in the photo were comfortable with the heaviest ammo, and no bloodshed..

 

[Yendor357]

The lousy grips were the least of my worries on that 686MG I bought. S&W has been in possession of it for over 2 months now. Not a word.

 

[mag318]

S&Ws customer service is not what it once was. Their assembly line is now made up of hourly paid non gunsmiths while back in the day the employees knew and loved what they were doing. I sent in a 629 for a new front sight bald and a refinish and they had it for 6 months.

 

[seldon14]

Lipseys has close ties to Tyler GunWorks hence they specified their Bear Hug grips for the Mountain Guns and I'm sure plenty of buyers love them. I hear the next Mountains Guns will be in 45 Colt and 327 Magnum which will be interesting.

Yes please!

 

[wproct]

I have 2 of the new Mountain Guns a 617 and a 696 and ended up taking the Bear Hug grips off both of them. The top of the left panel was sharp and I could feel it on the joint of my thumb on both my Mountain Guns. A friend bought a 629 MG and the grip panel on his was fitted better and not sharp. I ended up putting a set of Hogue Bantams on the 617 and a set of VZ G10 on the 696. At least with these S&W we have an endless supply of aftermarket grips. Initially the Bear Hugs look and feel good plus they are not cheap grips. I think S&W & Lipseys would have been wise to just put their rubber grips on the new MGs and let the end user decide his preference.View attachment 784914View attachment 784915View attachment 784916

Nice handguns, and I really like those black and gray grips made of laminated G10 material. They look nice, have good grip, and are very resistant to chemicals and oils etc.

 

[sparkyvega]

I like those BearHugs.

 

[2000Z-71]

The grips on my 610 Mountain Gun bit me. My buddy was like, "You are the only person I know who could get slide bite shooting a revolver." They look good, they feel good holding them, they suck for shooting.

 

[Beju]

A big part of not just using the standard rubber grips is to make the revolvers stand out in online images and in gun counters.

IMO, the downsides of harder grip materials vs rubber (besides the obvious lack of recoil absorption) is that they don't do as good of a job of masking slight dimensional differences in frames from gun to gun which can result in gaps, and if they don't work with your specific hand geometry, they can get uncomfortable/painful very quickly.

 

[PHS327]

Yes please!

Lipseys has close ties to Tyler GunWorks hence they specified their Bear Hug grips for the Mountain Guns and I'm sure plenty of buyers love them. I hear the next Mountains Guns will be in 45 Colt and 327 Magnum which will be interesting.

IMO, the 327 needs to go into a k frame with a 3 in barrel. I don't care if it's a mountain gun or not.